Cartridge-pouch.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD M. CUTTS, OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, ASSIGNOR TO COLTS PATENT FIRE ARMS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

CARTRIDGE-POUCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 25,1906- Serial No. 327,732.

Patented May 28, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RrcHARn M. CUTTs, captain of the United States MarineCorps, a citizen of the United States, stationed at the United States Navy Yard, Mare Island, in the county of Solano and State of California, have invented a new and useful Cartridge- Pouch, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to improvements in cartridge pouches, for conveniently and safely carrying a supply of the cartridges required for charging small-arms, and for holding the cartridges in such a manner as to allow them to be at will and at any time, readily and rapidly removed from the pouch. for insertion into the fire-arm with the least possible movements, exertion and loss of time by the soldier or shooter.

The metallic cartridges fired in modern magazine small-arms are mostly supplied and carried in temporary packets or holders, such as magazines or clips, each one of which securely holds a series of the cartridges in the proper position for being inserted into the fire-arm to charge the same for a number of consecutive shots. The cartridge-pouch of this invention is one arranged to receive and to carry cartridges held in suchtemporary holders.

The objects of this invention are, first, to provide a convenient receptacle for receiving and for securely keeping one or several cartridge-magazines, or loading-clips, in the most efiective position for protecting the series of cartridges against being disarranged, and for protecting the cartridges of the series against being injured by the movements of the bearer of the pouch. Second, to provide a pouch of simple and inexpensive but strong construction, fitted to withstand the rough usage of active service, and to provide the pouch with means for its secure attachment to the person of the bearer. Third, to provide a pouch having in its interior a device for receiving and for securely keeping one or several cartridge-holders, and having a cover for closing the pouch and for confining and protecting its contents, and having means for locking down the cover inthe closed posi tion; all these to be arranged in such a manner as to allow the soldier or shooter to unlock and to open the pouch, to readily grasp one of the cartridge-holders therein, to withdraw it from the pouch, and to present it for insertion into the fire-arm, entirely by the use of one of his hands only. These objects are attained by a pouch of simple and practical construction, which is eflicient, strong and not liable to become damaged by rough usage. e

The embodiment of my improvements represented in the accompanying drawings is a pouch holding one or several of the wellknownmagazines or tubular cartridge-holders used for charging magazine-pistols, such as the well-known automatic Colt pistols; but it will be understood that a pouch of this construction is equally well adapted to hold one or several of the well-known cartridge-loading-clips used for charging magazine-rifles, as the exterior form of a filled clip of this kind is similar to that of the magazine, and as the clip holds a series of cartridges in the same order, one cartridge side by side upon the other, as does the tubular holder. I, therefore, do not intend to restrict the present invention'. to the use with tubular cartridgemagazines only.

In the accompanying drawin s: Figure 1, is a front elevation of the pouc containing two filled ma azines,witl1 the cover closed and locked. Fig. 2, is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the pouch open, with the cover unlocked and raised up. Fig. 3, is a plan of the open pouch, with the cover represented as cut off on a line slightly above the top of the body of the pouch. Fi 4, is avertical transverse section through t e pouch on the line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the magazines and the holding-device in the-pouch in an end view. Fig. 5, is an elevation of the body of stitching, or by any other eflicient method. The front-wall and the rear-wall are formed at substantially right angles to the bottom of the pouch, but the two end-walls are inclining, slanting upward and outward from the bottom, and, looking from the front at the pouch, the left hand end-wall b inclines outward at a considerably larger angle than that formed between the bottom and the other end-wall. The left hand end-wall b is also lower than the other end-wall, which is 'of equal height with the frontand back-walls, at their left hand ends the frontand backwalls incline downward to join the lower end-wall b, for the purpose hereinafter fully explained.

The cover 0 of the pouch is shaped from a thinner flexible piece of leather, forming a flap which is stitched or otherwise attached to the outside of the back-wall, and, when closed, is bent over the pouch and its contents, and over-lapping the front-wall it is detachably locked to the same by an elastic button d and socket-clasp d or some similar device. At the ends the cover projects some distance beyond the body of the pouch, thereby protecting the same and its contents. To the outside of the back-wall are also attached the ends of two strong leather straps which form the two loops 6 and e for the reception of the waist-belt of the soldier, by which the pouch is securely attached to the same.

The interior of the body of the pouch is provided with a device for clasping and separately holding twoof the tubular cartridgeholders or magazines, this device is formed of thin sheet metal, such as brass, and consists of a bottom-plate f which extends from the left hand end of the pouch nearly to the right end and is secured to the bottom of the same. At the center the bottom-plate f is bent upward and doubled throughout its length to form a rigid vertical, lon itudinal partition 7, dividing the interior of the pouch into two spaces, each adapted to receive one cartridge-magazine, Figs. 3 and 4. At the front and at the rear the bottom-plate has two projecting arms or lugs f f which are bent vertically upward and attached respectively to the front-wall and to the rear-wall of the pouch, which are thereby reinforced.

The two spaces for the reception of the magazines are of such width that the magazines fit snugly therein, so that the reinforced, but slightly yielding rearand front-walls of the pouch securely clasp and hold the magazines by pressing them against the central position, thereby preventing the loss of the magazines from the pouch even if the soldier should move while the pouch is open and uncovered.

Each of the two magazines or cartridgeholders h, it, represented in the drawings as occupying the pouch, consists of a tube holding a number of cartridges, side by side upon the usual spring-actuated follower, the lopmost cartridge being confined in the holder by the projecting and inwardly bent rear portions of the side-walls at the top of the ma gazine, which allow the topmost cartridge to he removed from the holder only when it is forced from the same in the forward direction.

At the lower end the magazine is closed by a fixed bottom plate It], and for the convenient removal of the magazine from its seat in the fire-arm the bottom plate /1 projects some distance beyond the front of the magazine. hen placed in the pouch, the two magazines rest side by side with the hacks downward, so that the cartridges therein rest upon their flanges, with the bullet upward. As the projecting hottomplates would prevent the closed cover or .llap of the pouch from resting upon and holding down the magazines at their upper ends, at the right hand end of the pouch, as seen from the front, unless the top of the flap when closed inclined considerably downward toward the right, I prefer to arrange the magazines in the pouch so that their upper right hand ends are level with the upper ends of the projecting bottom-plates hi see Figs. 1 and 2. This position of the magazines is insured by sulliciently raising the right hand end of the metallic bottom-plate f, of the holder in the pouch, and by inserting a piece of leather g under the platefbefore attaehing it to the bottom of the pouch.

As seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the inclining right hand end-wall of the pouch eorrespoinls with the inclining open ends of the magazines and with the topmost cartridges therein but the left hand end-wall of the pouch and the bottom-plates of the magazines therein incline upward in opposite directions, so that an upwardly increasing open space left between the pouch-wall and the, magazine bottom-plate. By this constructi m the re moval of the magazines from the pouch is facilitated, by allowing the magazine to be turned upward on the rear end of its botto mplate as on a fucrum until it may be grasped, see Fig. 2.

In Fig. 5 the pouch is shown as seen from the rear, at the soldiers waist, without the cover and the belt-loops; with his left hand the soldier, after opening the pouch, turns up one of the magazines by pressing outward against the projecting end of the pottomplate 7L1 until the same rests against the end of the pouch, in this position the other end of the magazine has been sullieiently raised above the front-wall of the pouch to allow the fourth finger of the hand to be inserted under it between the pouch and the magazine, and so as to grasp the magazine with this finger and the thumb and to raise it from the pouch, then the other fingers at once close around the magazine and turn it in the hand into the position for insertion into the magazine-seat of the pistol held in the right hand of the soldier.

When the pouch is used to hold cartridgeloading-clips, the clip, holding the cartridges at their flanges, rests upon the bottom-plate in the pouch, the cartridges are firmly held together and with the bullets upward, and pressure with the thumb of the soldier is applied against the bullet of the outermost cartridge in the clip, thus turning up the same until his finger can be inserted between the clip and the pouch, in the same manner as above explained, when the clip with the cartridges may be readily removed from the pouch.

In case the pouch should be required to hold more than two cartridge-packets, the width of the body between the frontand rear walls should be correspondingly increased, and several longitudinal partitions should be formed on the bottom-plate of the holder, the proper distance apart to provide the required space for holding the additional cartridge-packet.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A pouch for cartridge-packets having parallel front and rear sides, and one end parallel to the adjacent ends of the cartridgepackets, and having the other end inclining upward and outward to leave an upwardly increasing space between said end of the pouch and the ends of the cartridge-packets, and provided with a flexible cover and with means for securing said cover to said pouch, substantially as described.

2. In a pouch for holding cartridge-packets, the combination of the body having parallel front and rear sides, and one end parallel to the adjacent ends of the cartridge-packets, and the other end inclining upward and outward to leave an u wardly increasing space between said end 0 the pouch and the ends of the cartridge-packets, with a packetholder secured in said body, and the flexible cover attached to said body and means for locking down said cover, substantially as specified. v

3. In a cartridge-box, the combination of the body for receiving cartridge-packets edgewise, the sides of said body being lower than the height of a cartridge-packet resting edgewise therein, the flexible cover attached to said body and means for locking down said cover, with the packet-holder secured in said body and constructed with a lengthwise partition and with lugs reinforcing the sides of said body and adapting said body for yield ingly clasping and separately holding a plurality of cartridge-packets, one end of said body inclining outward and upward, whereby the cartridge-packets in the boX are adapted to be in succession turned upward and to be grasped for removal from the boX.

4. In a cartridge-pouch, in combination, the receptacle for tubular cartridge-magazines, having sides lower than the height of the magazines resting edgewise therein, and provided with a cover and means for locking down said cover, the magazine-holder secured in said receptacle and formed with a lengthwise partition and with lugs reinforcing the sides of said receptacle and adapting the same for grasping and holding a plurality of magazines side by side, said magazines constructed with inclined, upwardly projecting bottom-plates, and said receptacle having one end inclining upward and outward, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

' This specification signed and witnessed this 12th day of July A. D. 1906.

RICHARD M. CUTTS.

In the presence of B. F. GRIFFIN, GEO. R. CODAR. 

